Closing the Gender Digital Divide Could Add $1.5 Trillion to Global GDP, Lift 30 Million Women Out of Poverty – UN Report

New York, September 2025 

Investing in gender equality could unlock massive social and economic benefits, according to the Gender Snapshot 2025 report released by UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). The flagship report warns that the world is “at a crossroads” but insists that progress is possible if governments and global leaders take decisive action.

Among its key findings: bridging the gender digital divide alone could lift 30 million women out of poverty by 2050, empower 343.5 million women and girls worldwide, and generate an estimated $1.5 trillion boost to global GDP by 2030.

“Where gender equality has been prioritized, it has propelled societies and economies forward,” said Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women. “Targeted investments in gender equality have the power to transform societies and economies.”

The report draws from more than 100 data sources, tracking women’s and girls’ progress across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It shows areas of undeniable improvement:

Girls are completing school at higher rates than ever before.

Maternal mortality has declined nearly 40% between 2000 and 2023.

Countries with strong legal protections against violence record rates of intimate partner abuse 2.5 times lower than those with weak safeguards.

Women’s leadership in global climate talks has doubled.

In just five years, 99 new or reformed laws have dismantled barriers to equality.

Yet the findings also reveal alarming reversals. If current trends persist, 351 million women and girls will still be living in extreme poverty by 2030, and gender equality targets under SDG5 are set to be missed entirely. Conflict has become deadlier for women and girls, with 676 million now living in conflict zones—the highest number since the 1990s. Food insecurity is also gendered, with 64 million more adult women than men facing hunger in 2024.

“The costs of failure are immense but so are the gains from gender equality,” said Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. He emphasized that strategic investments in care systems, education, the green economy, labour markets, and social protection could reduce extreme poverty for women and girls by 110 million by 2050, while unlocking $342 trillion in cumulative economic returns.

The release of the report coincides with the 80th United Nations General Assembly and the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark agreement on women’s rights. UN Women has also launched the Beijing+30 Action Agenda, which outlines six priority areas: ending poverty, eliminating violence, ensuring equal power and leadership, achieving climate justice, advancing peace and security, and guaranteeing full participation in the digital revolution.

“As world leaders gather in New York, we must choose a world where women’s rights are delivered at scale and the returns are shared by all,” Bahous urged.

With just five years remaining to achieve the 2030 Agenda, the report is both a warning and a call to action: gender equality is within reach — but only if leaders summon the political will to prioritize it.